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Flag Stops: New Ideas, New Challenges
Monday, July 19, 2010
A roundup of news and views on passenger train issues.
- The Housatonic Railroad has commissioned a Massachusetts research firm to study restoring passenger trains on its line between Danbury, CT and Pittsfield, MA—essentially extending northward the Danbury Branch of Metro-North’s New Haven Line from New York City. The railroad’s vice president of special projects, former Connecticut transportation commissioner Colin Pease, told the Danbury News-Times: “If the study’s finding strongly indicate a passenger market, [the Housatonic Railroad] is prepared to spend, along with other private investors, $100 to $150 million to improve the tracks and infrastructure along the line.” Housatonic has become the first private “freight” railroad to formally study getting into the passenger business since 1980.
- A national passenger train network as a key component of mobility, and it’s equally important to our national security. The impetus to invest in trains in order to cut the transportation sector’s oil consumption becomes more urgent as the US military warning of serious oil shortages within five years.
- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood touts the outlay of stimulus funds for augmenting North Carolina’s passenger railcar and locomotive fleet as another step towards completing the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor. 34 jobs will be created immediately, while the transit-oriented development the corridor continues to attract will generate an estimated 19,000 jobs. The Secretary also comments further on how better automobile alternatives work to combat obesity.
- The CEO of JetBlue acknowledges that hundreds of his airline’s short-haul flights won’t be needed as high-speed train service increases—and he’s fine with trains being a complement to air travel.
- The American Prospect lays out the challenges before the new reform-minded leadership at the Departments of Transportaton and Housing and Urban Development—challenges worsened by public pressure for reduced deficits and against tax increases, which have led the White House to impose a 3-year freeze on discretionary spending. Luckily, former Reconnecting America President Shelly Poticha and other New Urbanists in the administration have a “can do” attitude and are breaking down decades-old barriers to interagency communication.
- A graphic designer has reimagined the national Amtrak network as a subway map. This conceptualization gives one a better perspective on how Amtrak works as a network—and shows where connectivity is sorely lacking: the Gulf Coast, Boston North to South, and between North Carolina and Memphis, to name a few spots. Importantly, the Florida-New Orleans route is left off of this map, although the “suspended” line remains on Amtrak’s official map and on the US DOT’s “existing services” map.
- Hoping life will imitate art: The author of a novel featuring a train across North Dakota and Montana (a NARP member) is using his book to promote restoring the North Coast Hiawatha in real life. A friend of his discusses on YouTube.
- LCL: Support for the fight to prevent the Princeton Dinky from being replaced by a dedicated busway grows. * * * A National Journal panel of transportation experts expounds upon the potential for high-speed rail to generate economic activity. * * * Planning for rail systems and transit-oriented development, long the exclusive domain of government, is generating interest from private funders. * * * The Quiet Car movement reaches New Jersey Transit.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak map, danbury, high-speed rail, housatonic railroad, jetblue, mobility, national security, network, north coast hiawatha, oil shortage, passenger train, pittsfield, ray lahood, shelly poticha,Hopping the Local: Small Steps Forward
Thursday, November 03, 2011
While passenger train supporters’ attention has been rightfully focused on the meaningful improvements being made with the unprecedented $10.5 billion federal investment in rail infrastructure grants to states—and on ensuring that this crucial investment in our nation’s economic strength and sustainability continues—there is also important progress being made at the state, local and community levels. A survey of stories appearing in recent issues of the newsletters of state passenger associations reveals the following noteworthy developments not yet reported by NARP:
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| Amtrak’s eastbound Cardinal inches along very poor Buckingham Branch track at Orange, VA on Oct. 10, 2008. Photo by Donnie Biggs, RailPictures.net |
A faster, smoother ride for the Cardinal through Virginia: The Commonwealth of Virginia is partnering with the short line Buckingham Branch Railroad to invest in long-overdue upgrades to the track Amtrak’s tri-weekly Chicago-Cincinnati-Washington-New York Cardinal uses between Clifton Forge and Culpeper, the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (VARP) reports.
Several miles of bumpy jointed rail has been replaced with smooth welded rail, the signal system has been modernized, and the slowest 10-mile segment of the line (Orange to Gordonsville, VA) has seen its maximum speed go from 15 mph to 30 mph after the track was improved. While these are rather modest gains in ride quality—and so far have not resulted in any shortening of the Cardinal’s schedule—they are steps in the right direction, and are paving the way for the eventual daily operation of this oft-neglected national network train.
I personally experienced a noticeably better ride on the eastbound Cardinal this past Sunday. On previous trips, the train rarely got above 60 mph over the Buckingham Branch as it rocked along over rough track. Now, with the exception of a couple of slow bumpy stretches, the train rocketed through the countryside at 65 to 70 mph. On previous trips, the train would often lose time even if it didn’t have to pull onto a siding on the single-track line to wait for a train going the opposite direction to pass.
This time, though we did lose 30 minutes waiting for another train to pass, we were able to make that up before arriving in Washington. Nevertheless, the Gordonsville to Orange portion was still painfully slow. The host railroad has neglected to properly maintain that segment since the Cardinal is the only train that uses it on a regular basis.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak cardinal, buckingham branch railroad, canada, connecticut, housatonic railroad, infrastructure upgrades, manassas, metro-north railroad, station signage, via rail canada, virginia,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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